Effects Of Different Brainstorming On Creativity Of College Students

This experimental study investigated the effects of different brainstorming, namely Individual thinking, Group interactive brainstorming and Electronic brainstorming on creativity of college students by comparing the number of ideas generated in three brainstorming sessions, as well as by assessing creativity in the final product made independently after brainstorming session using "Consensual Assessment Technique of Creativity" by Amabile. The purpose of this study is to compare the different effects of these brainstorming sessions or thinking patterns on creative process and final products.Analysis of variance revealed that in idea generation session, the number of ideas generated by interactive brainstorming group is larger than individual thinking group significantly. Electronic brainstorming group produced more creative projects than interactive brainstorming group in final product assessment. Responses to questionnaires indicated that slightly majority of students would like to generate ideas in group interactive pattern while as to develop a project they preferred to work independently. Group interactive pattern bestowed students with better objective experience which made them feel easier to develop a project, more confident in idea generation and be more active.In this study, students suffered little from such process losses as "evaluation apprehension", "social loafing" or "typing speed". Interactive brainstorming group was influenced much by "cognitive interference" and both of the brainstorming groups benefited from process gains of "synergy".